Around 9,000 car dealers registered for point-of-sale EV tax credit as of January 7, 2024

More and more car dealers are coming forth and signing up for the electric vehicle (EV) point-of-sale tax credit as it is about to reach 9,000 applicants.

Last October, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a guidance report to lower costs for consumers.

It aims to help car dealers grow their businesses by increasing access to Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) credits at the point of sale for new and previously owned clean vehicles.

The release mentioned that consumers liked the idea of getting an instant rebate. Thus carrying point-of-sale tax credits is a green signal to continue through dealers.

The new rule has already been in action since January 1, 2024.

“Under the Inflation Reduction Act, consumers can choose to transfer their new clean vehicle credit of up to $7,500 and their previously owned clean vehicle credit of up to $4,000 to a car dealer starting January 1, 2024.” wrote the US Department of Treasury.

This change lowers the vehicle’s purchase price by providing consumers with an upfront down payment on their EV at the point of sale instead of waiting to claim their credit on their tax return the next year.

However, the dealers and customers can only claim the Federal Tax Credit on qualified vehicles. IRS has also updated its list of vehicles that can now get the $7,500 and $4,00 tax credits in this new year.

To register dealers, the IRS is already running an Energy Credits Online registration portal. This website also offers all of the information for dealers to register and qualify to receive payment for transferred credits.

In December, over 7,000 dealers registered at the IRS portal for point-of-sale EV tax credits. Later in that month, this number increased to 7,400. Within the first week of January 2024, the number of applicant dealers jumped to 8,700, as revealed by the Treasury Department Last Friday (via TheHill).